Content area
Full text
Alternative education programs are often viewed as individualized opportunities designed to meet the educational needs for youth identified as at-risk for school failure. Increasingly, these programs have been identified as programs for disruptive youth who have been referred from traditional schools. The purpose of this study was to examine the characteristics of the administrative structures and physical facilities of alternative education programs and to describe the student population and educational services being offered to youth attending such programs. The findings suggest programs appear to be largely site-based programs, often operating in physical facilities with limited access to academic supports. The student population appears to be mostly high school students with a large portion of students identified as disabled. The general education curriculum is reported as a predominant course of study among alternative schools, supplemented with vocational education. Students appear to be provided with a number of school and community support activities. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
Within the past decade, a rise in the number of alternative education programs serving youth at-risk for education failure has been observed. In 1993-1994, 2606 alternative schools operated separately from traditional schools. A 47% (3850) increase in the number of alternative education schools was observed by the 19971998 school year (Kleiner, Porch, & Farris, 2002). However, when the definition of alternative education for at-risk youth is expanded to include public alternative schools, charter schools for at-risk youth, programs within juvenile detention centers, community-based schools or programs operated by districts, and alternative schools with evening and weekend formats, the number of programs increased substantially. The National Center on Educational Statistics, for the academic year 2000-2001, reported 10,900 public alternative schools and programs serving 612,000 students were operating in the United States (Kleiner et al., 2002).
Alternative education programs are often viewed as individualized opportunities designed to meet the educational needs for youth identified as at-risk for school failure. More recently, these programs have been viewed as programs for disruptive youth who are experiencing difficulty in traditional schools (National Association of State Directors of Special Education, 1999). Likewise, the approaches and orientation of the programs appear to differ accordingly. Some programs emphasize a disciplinary orientation and others focus on developing an innovative program that seeks to meet students'...